Ethical Implications Of Slut Shaming

Throughout the book, Bogle places particular attention to gender differences. Supporting Bogle’s findings, there is still a double standard for men and women. Participation in the hookup scene is risky for women, while men have few, if any risks. Women who behave too “sexually” in the hookup culture have to recognize that there are repercussions. These repercussions include damaged reputations, being labeled, and being ostracized by peers. Women can get labeled, damage their reputations, or ostracized by having too many partners, hooking up with two guys that know each other well, dressing in a seductive manner, constantly hanging around a fraternity house, or drinking too much.

For as long as media has been around, women have been sexualized in order to sell products. It’s a known fact by brands and consumers alike: sex sells. No one can deny this fact, it’s everywhere. Turn on your radio, you’ll hear songs describing women as nothing more than pieces of meat, objects to look at. Turn on your televison and you’ll see advertisements for inherentlyunsexual products like beer or a burger, but it will accompanied by a half naked woman. Walk into any convenience store, and you will find half a dozen magazine with airbrushed models in bikinis, some of these models so young that they cannot even drive. At what age does it become okay to start sexualizing women, or is it never okay? Some would say the age of legality, which is eighteen, but young Hollywood starlets such as Kylie Jenner and Ariel Winter were victims of the media’s obsession with sexualization before they even turned sixteen. It is an understatement to say that the media has gone too far in many instances. It’s as if as soon as girls reach the age of puberty, they fair game to the media as objects of scrutiny and sexualization. It has gone from bad to worse. The way the media sexualizes women, especially famous teenage girls, is wrong and has

The theory being tested in the article is that women participate in slut shaming as a way for them to distance or separate themselves from other women. The reason they separate themselves is a way for women to categorize other women into different statuses and a way for themselves to maintain their own status. The status classes women are categorized in are linked to the social class they are a part of. Slut shaming among women is not necessarily based on their sexual acts, but of the way they act as a woman. The theory also states that slut shaming is also a result of male dominance and female submission. The slut label was created by men due to a double standard created by society. The double standard is that men are expected to act upon their sexual desires regardless of being in a relationship or having any emotional connection with the person they’re engaging that sexual act with all while women are only allowed to participate in sexual activities if they are in a loving and committed relationship. However, if

The first question is, of course, as always, “What is slut shaming and rape culture?” The answer is not something you want to hear. Scarlett Peterson, of Kennesaw State University defines slut shaming as, “...the idea that a person who owns their sexuality and engages in sex for fun is something to be ashamed of…” (Peterson, 2015). But that’s not all. Slut shaming involves gossiping about women in promiscuous clothing, judging women on birth control or women who go for abortion, girls who lose their virginity young, or girls that wish to wait until marriage. So, who isn’t slut shamed?

Despite the fact that many men continue to deny that women are objectified, being viewed as an object created solely as a means of pleasure for men is a reality for anyone who was born biologically female. Proving that women are considered less valuable than men is the statistic that women make only 70% of what men in a similar career earns (Ravelli & Webber 214). The sexaul double standard contributes to this idea as well which means that women who engage in sexual activities are “promiscuous” (Ravelli & Webber 237) or “whores” (Ravelli & Webber 237) while men who behave similarly are “Studs” (Ravelli & Webber 237) and women who do not engage in sexual activities are “virgins” (Ravelli & Webber 237) or “Madonna’s” (Ravelli & Webber 237). There are only two portrayals of women and both of these refer to her sexual activities. There are also outrageous definitions of beauty portrayed in the media to

In this patriarchal society, women find practicing sexual agency difficult because there is a double standard that exists in which being either “slutty” or chaste has negative consequences. Marilyn Frye (2004) explains this concept as the “double bind,” which Frye defines as “situations in which options are reduced to a very few and all of them expose one to penalty, censure or deprivation” (p. 184). Women cannot express their sexualities, wants, or needs in a legitimate and safe way because they will face punishment if they happen to be on either end of the continuum. Kristen Firminger (2006) suggests that women’s magazines define for

Sexual shaming was an immense component of the 60’s and earlier times. Slut-shaming is the most communal term for the consequence of when people portrayed themselves as sexually indecent. Even the judicial system recognized shaming as a tool enforce how much sex society can tolerate, sentencing one woman to two years in jail for adultery. Modernly, sex is everywhere. Indecency has developed into sexy, but what society considers sexy has also changed.

“He’s a Stud, She’s a Slut” and forty-nine other double standards every woman should know by Jessica Valenti talks about the double standards women deal with on a daily basis, and how these double standards affect every woman. Valenti mentions some examples of double standards and how it affects women in the society. These double standards are perceived as acceptable to be applied by one group of people, but are considered unacceptable when applied by another group. In “She’s a Slut, He’s a Stud”, Valenti gives notable examples which I totally agree with as regards to how double standards affect young women in the society. In her examples, she gives an insight on how she had experienced double standards because she has a vagina.

A key point in the introduction of Slut! that is reaffirmed throughout the book is Tanenbaum’s statement, “A girl’s sexual status is a metaphor for how well she fits into the American ideal of femininity” (p. xv). The American ideal of femininity includes emotionality, weakness, nurturing, heterosexual orientation, and anything else that is a contrast to masculinity. Masculine traits like rationality and strength are highly valued in a patriarchal society (Bb, Discussion of Stereotypes and Quotes).

Although Hawthorne goes back two hundred years to create a romantic setting for his famous novel The Scarlet Letter, he also envisions a hopeful future for women in which “sacred love should make [them] happy” (166). However, our present setting tells us a different story. We are presented with the problem of “slut shaming”: a subtle, yet deadly transfiguration of a woman’s passion and “sacred love” into moral frailty and opprobrium. As a male, I do not have the same authority to speak on this topic as someone who has experienced it firsthand would. I am a part of the problem, but so is our patriarchal society, and if everyone is part of the problem, then who should begin the inevitable discourse? The Scarlet Letter embodies the idea of exaggerated ignominy placed upon women who desire just to be a normal woman: someone of passion and caring. One would expect that with the one hundred and fifty years Hawthorne alots us to appreciate and respect a woman’s “sacred love,” we would have at least made strides to do so. Yet, it seems our society today has only embraced the shame that Hawthorne tried so hard to dismantle.

The purpose of this study was to understand the college students’ perceptions of slut-shaming discourse. The research indicated that there was a strong correlation between cultural expectations and slut-shaming. According to the results, the perceptions of slut-shaming are influenced by aspects such as: class, culture, media, gender, feminism, ethnicity, religion, and sexuality. Overall, college students were found to be on crossfire of slut-shaming discourse on a college campus.

She used the term slut-shaming for when people make girls feel bad about expressing their sexuality. In class we examined the term double-bind, when girls are shamed for both having sex and not having sex. It was a positive that she discussed the shame girls face with expressing sexuality, but it was negative in the sense that she didn’t mention they also face being shamed for not having sex. She presented her information like a heterosexual script, where the woman is the ‘gatekeeper’ for sex and the man is the sexual aggressor, always pushing the limits of the woman to have

Men are rewarded for their sexual endeavours, while women are shamed for the same thing. Women are chastised for promiscuity because a woman’s worth is placed upon her sexuality and ability to provide pleasure, not her personality or talent. A man on the other hand, is congratulated because women are seen as conquests to be taken and not human beings, thus making them inferior. Although this story most likely takes place in the 1960s or early 70s proven by the song choices of the main character, the same double standard rings true today. It is worth noting that Minot published this story in 1989, a time where women appeared to have broken through barriers towards equality. With “Lust,” Minot exposes the internalized sexism in society and proves it is so ingrained, that is no longer a recognized issue, rather it is apart of traditional roles upheld by the public. Minot’s “It’s different for a girl” takes on a much deeper meaning because when women are perceived as objects, the degradation of women as a gender becomes easier, thus thrusting society into a pit of inescapable misogyny. Minot draws attention to this reality in an attempt to combat it. “Lust” opens a platform for dissertation into how society’s

Women are cruel, catty creatures. Women are known to be catty with one another insinuating that this is their natural behaviors and cannot help it. They are also known to be fake, to gossip, and to be sarcastic. Stereotyping is not a good behavior to have and is never true about the entire group of people that it is describing. However, for many women these stereotypes are true. Without the drama, women already have to deal with menstruation, self-image, sometimes children, work, and still trying to have some sort of social life. Bullying seems like something that juveniles do when they are young. Unfortunately, bullying does not stop once one grows up. It is simply called something else; shaming. Women shame each other in any way that they can to make themselves feel better.

It is said that men seduce and women are designed to be seduced. This entails that women who want to be active in the sex culture have to “pull maneuvers” to be seduced by men, for example wear “slut attire”, or behave in a “slut” manner. The word “slut” is used to describe a woman who is part of the sex and hookup culture, which entails multiple parters, enjoying sex, or a woman who is rumored to have a sexual appetite that society disapproves of. Urban dictionary describes a “slut” as “a woman with the morals of a man”, this shows how double standard and battle of the sexes is prevalent even after the feminist movements have brought women to such high standards of life.